MP calls for 'welcome home' parade for soldiers returning from Afghanistan

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 24th Sep 2007

Soldiers from The Royal Anglian Regiment who will shortly be returning from Afghanistan should be warmly welcomed back to the UK with a parade through the centre of Colchester.

That's the suggestion made today by the town's MP Bob Russell following comments by the Head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, that troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are not given the public recognition that they deserve.

Mr Russell is calling on Colchester Borough Council to discuss with The Royal Anglian Regiment the prospect of a ceremonial march along the High Street so that the town can give a "welcome home" for soldiers from the 1st Battalion who are coming to the end of a six-month tour of duty in Helmand Province.

Nine members of the Battalion have lost their lives and more than 70 have been injured.

Mr Russell said: "I believe it would be a wonderful tribute to the Regiment, and in particular the brave soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan, if the

Garrison Town of Colchester could welcome them home - and give the public recognition of appreciation which General Dannatt is rightly calling for."

Over the weekend he raised the matter informally with the Mayor of Colchester, Councillor Ray Gamble, and this morning he wrote formally to the Mayor to ask that the suggestion of an official "welcome home" parade is considered by the Council.

Although The Royal Anglians are not based in Colchester, the 1st Battalion recruits locally as well as across the rest of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk.

Mr Russell, who is a member of The Royal Anglian Regiment Association, paid tribute to the 1st Battalion when he spoke in a debate on the Armed Forces at last week's Liberal Democrat Party Conference.

Wearing the Association's tie, he then went straight to a fringe meeting organised by The Royal British Legion where he was one of the main speakers in support of the Legion's national campaign to get the Government to "honour the Covenant" of giving a better deal to serving and former military personnel and their families.

Mr Russell is a Parliamentary Advisor to The Royal British Legion. He is also a Graduate of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme, and last year visited British troops in Iraq through his membership of the Armed Forces Bill Committee.

The Royal Anglians have the Honour of the Freedom of the Borough of Colchester, first given to the Essex Regiment after the Second World War, which allows them to march through the town with fixed bayonets and their band playing. The Essex Regiment was one of several county regiments which merged to form The Royal Anglian Regiment.